Colorado craft distillers offer chance to drink local

With all that digging in the dirt and rhapsodizing about the unique taste qualities of, say, hakurei turnips, it would be easy to get the impression that we're not much fun.

Not that hakurei turnips aren't delicious; of course, they are.

But even the most ardent local eater likely wouldn't anticipate a turnip after a hard week at work in the same way she would a martini. While Colorado's many great craft brews and its growing number of wines have always provided a delicious tipple, the time has finally come when it's possible to buy local and drink "Mad Men" style, although preferably in much more moderate amounts.

Also with much more refinement in taste. The new distillers springing up around the state are artisanal and small batch in their intent.

"I think it's going to revolutionize the liquor industry, just like microbreweries revolutionized brewing," says Steve Viezbicke, co-owner with his wife, Terri, of Boulder Distillery & Clear Spirit Co., which produces 303 Vodka, a potato vodka made from a family recipe Viezbicke stumbled across by accident.

Locavores can imbibe happily knowing that the vodka is made from potatoes grown in the San Luis Valley and Indian Peaks spring water. But Viezbicke says the main reason to drink his vodka is the flavor.

"Vodka should have a nose, a bouquet, a flavor. You should be able to taste it and have it not burn your throat like rubbing alcohol," Viezbicke says.

Advertisement

Appreciating the craft

Liquor stores around town are seeing an increasing interest in local spirits, not least because of the growing cocktail culture in Boulder with the Bitter Bar at Happy, Salt, Frasca and the newly opened Oak at 14th all having active cocktail programs.

Brett Zimmerman, the new owner of the Boulder Wine Merchant, is increasing the store's offerings of artisanal spirits.

"One of the things we're getting with artisan spirits is more flavor. It's more pure and has more texture and richness.

"It's something to enjoy on its own and something to mix," he says, adding that customers are also using higher quality mixers and real juice if they're making cocktails.

"If you're going to spend $50 on a bottle, you don't put that syrupy, nasty mixture in your drink," Zimmerman says. "You use fresh juices and step it up and use a higher quality vermouth if you're making a Manhattan, for example, and the difference is profound."

He adds that certain distilleries are working to make uniquely Colorado products. Stranahan's, for example, from a Denver distillery, is marketing its bourbon made in the style of single malt scotch as Colorado whiskey.

Other distilleries such as Leopold Bros, also Denver-based, use uniquely Colorado ingredients. Its Three Pins Alpine Herbal Liqueur takes its name from the slang term for telemark skiers and uses mountain herbs.

A growing number of choices

"The thing with Leopold is they have such a wide variety," says Kim Littlejohn, store manager and liquor buyer at Superior Liquor. "If someone is saying, 'I want a Colorado (spirit), there's vodka, liqueurs, whiskey, they have them all."

She says Roundhouse gin, made in Boulder, as well as the company's Coretto, a coffee liqueur that is less sweet than Kahlua, is also popular.

Frank Percey, liquor representative at Liquor Mart, says the store has seen a surge in interest in Colorado spirits.

He says Boulder-based Vodka 14, an organic vodka distilled at the base of the Tetons, is popular, as are many of the Leopold Bros products. He adds that 303 Vodka has been selling well, also.

Where liquor comes from

"Everything coming out of Colorado is very high quality, small-batched," he says, adding that many distilleries are opening up tasting rooms and offering tours to appeal directly to the consumer.

"You can go and get a group together and see how the stuff is actually made," he says.

One such is 303, which offers tours by appointment and has a tasting room open Wednesday through Saturday.

Viezbicke likes to point out that his the first distillery to open in Boulder since Prohibition, which ended 77 years ago this week. (Roundhouse, now distilling in Boulder, opened in Longmont.)

He says that although vodka was originally made from potatoes, 98 percent of the vodka currently produced is made from grain or fruit.

He found his Polish grandfather's recipe in a trunk and spent several years tweaking it. A former engineer, Viezbicke has rebuilt reclaimed equipment to suit his process.

Soon the company will be introducing a potato whiskey, aged in charred wine barrels. One advantage of using potatoes is that the whiskey will be gluten free.

He says using potatoes is neither the easiest nor most efficient way to make spirits.

"It's difficult and cost-ineffective to make potato vodka, but it makes such a better spirit," he says of his product, which sells for $23.99.

Knowing how spirits are made may be next frontier in eating and drinking local.

As for that turnip, it might taste pretty good shaved atop dark rye bread with local sour cream and some chilled potato vodka.

Boulder is pretty good at producing rock bands, and by "rock," we mean the in-your-face, guitar-heavy, leather-clad variety — you know, the good kind. For a prime example, look no farther than BANDITS. Full Story